Chapter 153

Ayanokoji's biggest fear is collusion from within and without. Yellow Light is indeed quite cunning; if we don't push him, he'll probably investigate thoroughly before taking action.

But this made him unable to distinguish between friend and foe, and he could only see the academy as a whole, attacking it indiscriminately.

"That's heartless. We're all classmates. This will kill a lot of players, but those who are even slightly sensible will be forced to seek your protection."

Using someone else's strength against them, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is indeed ruthless; the only remaining question is how to withstand the retaliation.

Yuki, player-versus-player battles wouldn't happen in reality, and no one could afford the cost of game modifications. Since it was a random mission, there was room for maneuver.

Let's fight, let's fight until we're all bloodied and battered. Whoever wins or loses will suffer heavy losses anyway, so what does it have to do with me? I just hope it ends in a draw, that way Brother Lu will owe me two favors.

The first point is the timing of the battle; Yuki's timing was extremely clever. The second point is foreshadowing. After all, according to the storyline, it's Shinomiya Hongzheng who makes one mistake after another. If he wins, that's fine, but if he loses—

Players during the day will also be very dissatisfied, and then there will be a good show to watch.

"The academy's affairs are none of my business, but here, you can't win."

Yuki coldly drew his Demon-Breaker Longsword and Hunter's Blunderbuss. Presumably, Shinomiya Hongzheng had calmed down and realized the flaws in his identity. But how to put it...?

Dead people can't talk.

Ding ding.

The headset rang, and amidst the loud interference, Kaguya Shinomiya's voice came through. Her voice sounded strained, clearly unaccustomed to the current environment.

"I've entered the instance; I should be on the north side now."

Jie Cheng glanced northward, but dozens of skeletons as large as mountains blocked his view, so he couldn't see the other side.

"Find a place to hide and wait for my orders. Someone will come looking for you soon."

"Okay." Kaguya wouldn't be stubborn; her biggest takeaway from the Reincarnation Game was 'survival,' and she was just curious who would come looking for her.

When she opened the random dungeon, she clearly did not see the third companion, so she knew that this was the senior that Yuki had mentioned, a ruthless character who came and went without a trace.

Yuki had no intention of letting Kaguya Shinomiya participate in the battle directly. Even though she had just gained some advantages by following him, she only had experience from two dungeons and was not qualified to participate in such a large-scale event.

Including Shinomiya Hongzheng, there are a total of seven players, the weakest of whom has a rating of Extraordinary II or higher.

Besides being used for ignition, the Conceptual Craft Essence were also used by Yuki as a standard for judging strength.

Using it wisely, Yuki didn't mind the cost. He strolled through the wasteland of skeletons, dragging his sword along. The biological knowledge he had learned in the past was of no use at all.

It was a very strange place. Human skeletons made up only a small portion of the remains; the rest were aliens. I picked up a few metal fragments and examined them closely, but I couldn't discern any clues. I just felt that these fragments had existed for a very long time and were filled with the aura of time.

Then it's like there's a strange magnetic field that can block the Demon Eye without interfering with communication, which is really unscientific.

"It shouldn't be based on Earth; could it be a remnant of some copy? Besides, this place is perfect for a sneak attack."

Yuki muttered to himself, his view obstructed by the skeletons. The eerie atmosphere was unsettling, and if he was like this, the players who had been dragged in must be even more panicked.

Accompanied by occasional glimpses of daylight, Yuki on his way, judging from the surrounding mountains that he had roughly reached the center of the basin.

Glancing at the surrounding terrain piled with skeletons, he decisively crawled under the ribs of a huge creature, leaning against the skeleton, stroking the hilt of his knife, and carefully recalling the seven prey he had been dragged in.

There were five men and three women in total. Apart from Shinomiya Hongzheng, they were all around twenty years old. The information Ayanokoji provided was incomplete. Of these seven people, he only "recognized" the boy in the Attendant's uniform and the short-haired woman who initially stopped him.

Codenamed Attendant and Leopardess, their characteristics are unknown. The intelligence indicates they have three dungeon experience levels, but based on the timeline, they should now have more than five.

According to the senior student's observation, the other four players were subtly led by the two, which indirectly confirmed that their strength was below the two. Then, the girl who used electricity was the weakest and was the first to lose her mind.

Then there's Shinomiya Hongzheng. He resisted the longest and still had the energy to explain, so he was undoubtedly Transcendental Grade. But according to Ayanokoji, he was well protected by Shinomiya Oko, and was the kind of guy who just coasted along.

The Reincarnation Game cannot be absolutely fair because of the team mode. People in high positions can get away with Yuki. If Yuki doesn't stick to his principles, he can still carry the girls to victory.

"They're quite strong, with some top-tier players like Smoker among them. If I were in their the Bystander Is Blind, I'd be completely overwhelmed. But in a single dungeon run, the difference is like heaven and earth."

As expected, the assessment was that a minor task didn't warrant the involvement of the main force. It was this premise that gave Yuki the courage to act decisively.

He climbed onto the giant beast's skull, squinted, and looked ahead, using the flashes of lightning to gaze at the plains.

They can't see anything, and the enemy isn't stupid; of course they'll use this complex terrain for cover. But they have a powerful liability among them, ensuring these people don't just lie low.

With just a little bit of empathy, Yuki could guess what Shinomiya Hongzheng happening. Being unjustly blamed would make him both furious and feel completely insecure, given his personality.

'Therefore, the first order will inevitably be to concentrate on you, and I don't need to go looking for you at all,'

My fingers tapped out the rhythm of the thunder, calculating the pattern of its flashes. It was a complex thing; sometimes it flashed continuously, and sometimes it would flash only once every few minutes.

As Yuki. Upon discovering that there was indeed a pattern, he was overjoyed.

This is a perfect storm of favorable timing and location; the core of the operation plan has been identified.

The Bone Plains mostly dark, so I can only move on the surface since I dare not turn on any lighting. Besides, my Demon Eye is blocked, so skills like Soul Detection are probably useless.

I'm in the shadows, they're in the light—that's a good thing.

Rumble--

The fingers paused, and then thunder roared. In the instant the plain was suddenly brightened, two dark figures flashed by in the distance, as if hastily hiding among the skeletons at the moment of dawn.

The first group of players is located 200 meters to the southeast.

Without needing to think, Yuki locked onto the approximate location, leaped down from the skull, and with a few 'crack' sounds, crushed several skeletons under his feet, approaching on tiptoe like a cat.

Before him lay pitch blackness, and the only sound he could hear was the faint sound of his own footsteps. He walked straight ahead, and his limbs, hidden beneath his school uniform, were covered with a dense network of magical circuits.

By multiplying the distance of each step by the same amount of time, Yuki can determine his position.

His fingers tapped a rhythm on the hilt of the knife, and after ten taps, his fingers suddenly stopped, and he gripped the long knife tightly.

Rumble--

The earth suddenly brightened again, and there were two people exactly ten meters away from him.

It was a young couple, both casually dressed in white T-shirts and jeans, who hurriedly hid under the ribs of a monitor lizard as the sky suddenly brightened.

At that moment, the young man saw Yuki and stared in disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost.

After they met up, they continued forward in the dark, hiding as soon as it was light. How could they possibly run into someone?

It's that couple.

Yuki them with the characteristics he had memorized when he first entered the hall. He looked at the two astonished people without saying anything, and simply stomped his right foot down hard.

Thump!

Caught off guard, he sprinted at full speed, his body seemingly teleporting. A gust of wind, carrying ashes, rushed towards him. He saw the young man push his girlfriend away and pull out a disc-like prop.

The world turned upside down...

An invisible energy wave spread out. The youth exerted all his strength to control this Transcendental Grade artifact, but only a 'clang' was heard, and the silver light was brighter than the sky.

Yuki didn't use any strange props; he simply combined Demon Possession with Reinforcement Magecraft, instantly appearing in front of the opponent. Then, he drew his Demon-Breaker Longsword, freezing his figure on the opponent's retina.

Draw your sword--

Cut.

Simple and unadorned, the blade sliced through the spreading energy, cutting into muscles and severing bones, spraying the Heat blood all over the body. Then the lightning vanished, and the darkness returned to its inky blackness.

"Courage!"

The moment the girl's buttocks touched the ground, she frantically activated her sexuality while subconsciously calling out her boyfriend's name.

The heart-wrenching scream made Yuki's ears twitch. He leaned forward, feeling the blood sliding down his hair, holding the gun in his left hand, passing it through his right armpit, the Black Hole muzzle pointing in the direction of the scream.

Bang!!

Boom--

The flash of the gun barrel and the second bolt of lightning struck simultaneously. In a pure white light, hundreds of bullets tore the girl into a rag doll, sending her flying backward amidst Blood Mist.

Roar, battle, silence.

The lightning brought a few seconds of light, enough for Yuki to sweep over the bodies of the couple.

The young man was cleaved in two along with the disc in his hand, and the girl turned to dust along with the floating skeleton.

Taking advantage of the last glimmer of light left by the lightning, Yuki picked up a communicator that resembled holographic glasses and listened intently.

"Group A, assemble in area three."

"Everyone, take cover! When lightning flashes, hide immediately!"

"Group C, report your current location. Group C? Please respond."

Click.

Yuki crushed it, gripped the sword and spear, and disappeared into the darkness.

As for the strange power of that disc, how strong are the girl's characteristics, and how beautiful is their love?

I don't care.

Chapter Twelve: The Fisherman Will Never Go Home Empty-Handed! (Second Update)

The world was pitch black, with only occasional flashes of lightning briefly illuminating the surroundings.

A hard yet fragile sensation came from beneath his feet; some bones crumbled with a single step, while others were stronger than steel. The feeling was strange, but Yuki was focused on the present and had no interest in searching for any clues in the pitch black.

I've lost count of how many times I've fought against other players, and through that experience, I've gradually accumulated some valuable lessons:

Skilled teamwork makes them the hardest to kill, just like in online games. A well-coordinated team, even if each member is slightly weaker, can still challenge a powerful boss.

Then each player will build a unique system. Generally speaking, three instances can be completed, and each player will have some trump cards.

Just a few minutes ago, Yuki also felt a slight threat; it might not kill him, but it could save the players' lives.

Items, traits, skills—who knows how many types and combinations there are? It's too troublesome to test them every time.

"As long as I Limit my strengths, other players won't have a chance to use their trump cards."

Yuki stroked the hilt of his sword. His specialty was high efficiency, using the most exhilarating methods to kill enemies. When a player couldn't use their trump card, it was equivalent to having no trump card at all.

"There are still five people left. As expected of players from an organization, they fight with considerable strategy."

From the previous communication, Yuki already knew that the enemy had divided into small groups and subdivided the basin into many areas. They had sophisticated communication tools and maintained constant contact with each other.

If we were to actually fight, the chances of winning wouldn't be high. Now that the enemy is on guard, it's almost impossible to find and kill them one by one before they completely regroup.

But who said I wanted to play one against five?

Once again, lightning flashed across the sky, Yuki emerged from the lizard's skeleton, walking slowly across the pure white earth.

"You can proceed now, senior. Use the Fool's Mask; Hayasaka has already designed the blueprint."

"Which way do we go?" It was Kaguya who spoke.

"Whatever, just pounce on any player you see and attack. In my experience, there will be people in every direction in random dungeons. Oh, and you guys take notes: 3--5--10--2--2..."

"What the hell is that?!"

"Dawn breaks, you two will need this to ensure your safety later." Yuki repeated it several times until the two remembered it, then put down the communicator and slowly headed north of the basin.

Not far ahead, there was a dinosaur-like skeleton, kneeling on the ground, its head about twenty meters above the ground, looking like a building from a distance.

A good vantage point is enough to monitor the surrounding environment, so once the battle begins, those rushing to provide support will no longer need to hide.

Yuki drew his sword from its sheath and leaned on the ground, gazing down at the wasteland of bones.

Come on, I'm in a hurry.

"Is he trying to use us as bait?"

A kilometer away, Kaguya cautiously raised her head and looked at a very beautiful girl not far away.

It was her.

Kaguya clearly knows Mai Sakurajima, and considering that she herself has also been dragged into the Reincarnation Game, it's not surprising that she's a popular idol.

Mai Sakurajima's calm and mature demeanor was striking; she seemed completely unfazed by any tension.

"That's an old tactic. Yuki always says that a fisherman never goes home empty-handed; his mind is full of nonsense."

"Yuki? Isn't his Li Dan?"

"Li Dan? What kind of lousy name is that pig-headed guy? How come he still can't forget that person?" Mai Sakurajima was stunned for a moment, then angrily complained.

So his name is Yuki, and Li Dan's name has a special meaning.

Kaguya was initially annoyed, but then she remembered that aliases weren't chosen lightly, which improved her mood slightly. When she looked up again, she noticed that Mai Sakurajima was already wearing a mask.

Another blond youth in a red school uniform appeared before them, looking no different from the others, even more elegant.